Internal combustion engine



Oct. 15, 1935.

0. J.- GINGERICH 2,017,205

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed July 8, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l IN VENTOR By Gate 9. WM,

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Oct- 15, 1'935- o. .J. GI'NGERIC'H INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed July 8, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Oct. 15, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,017,205 INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Otto J. Gingerich, Trenton, Ohio Application .ruly s, 1932, Serial No. 621,391 1 12 Claims. (cling-191) i This invention relates ,to internal combustion engines, and its principal object is to obtain" more power with the consumption of a given:

amount of fuel than is possible with engines here tofore produced. Anotherobject is to prevent the formation of carbon in the cylinder and on the valves.

Among the several features of this invention that contribute to theseresults is that of. provid- A lever 22, fulcrumed at 23, has a forked end 24 10 ing a compression or combustionichamber which reduces the body of'fuel to a vryattenuated form. In a former application, Ser'. No. 367,685,

I disclosed and claimed, means-for doing this, which consisted in confiningthefuelin broad,

l5 thin spaces while combustiontakes place;

slows down thecombustion of the 'fuelfand makes the combustion more complete. In the present application I disclose an improvement .in' means for confining the fuel in broad thinj spaces, and

I also disclose means for confining part of thefuela.

in small tubes.

In said application, Ser. mama-1 disclosed means for keepingfexcessive heat from the piston rings, thereby pre enting leakage of. the rings due to overhea'tin In the present application I disclose improved the piston. rings from heat.

equalizing expansion and contraction of the parts, thereby avoiding leakage around the rings resulting fromdistortion of the parts.

I shall now proceedto describe my invention, with the assistance'of the. accompanyingdrawings,-in which, s 1

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a cylinder em- 5 bodying my invention; s

Fig. 2 is a composite view, partly .elevationa and partly sectional of the construction shown in Fig. 1, but seen from a position 90 degrees around from the position from which Fig. l is seen; I

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

' Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2; a

Fig. 5 is'a sectional elevation of a modified construction;

Fig. 6 is a sectional plan of another modified construction.

Referring now to Figs. 1 and 2, the cylinder I!) has a head I! and contains a piston l 2. The cylinder is provided with the usual heat radiating fins l3, but if desired these may be replaced by the well known water jacket method of cooling. Above the cylinder head H is what'I shall call 5 a superhead I 4, which is supported on the main cylinder head by two columns, l5-I5. Extending diametrically across the cylinder head, be-

., valve I!) having a stem 20 that passes through the top of the boss l6 and into a hole bored in boss 2| formed on the bottomofthesuperhead l4.

that engages transverse slots in the, valve stem 20. A spring 25 raises the'lever 22 and hence the stem 20,- and keeps the valve on its seat. The valve is opened bysuc'tion on the downward stroke :of thepiston, but if desired mechanical 15 means may be provided for opening the valve at proper intervals, as is commonly done in internal combustion engines. At its other end the boss l6 bored to form a housing 26 for a spark plug 21,

which housing is connected to the interior of the 20 cylinder by a hole 28.

The superhead l4 contains a circular cham-. ber 30, which is connected to the cylinder by ports 3 l--3| thatpass down through the columns l5l5. Referring to Fig. 4 is will be seen that 25 the columns l5-|5 are arcual to the longitudi- -nal axis of the cylinder and that the auxiliary chambers or ports 3l-3l are also arcual to the center of the cylinder. It will be seen also that while these ports are broad they are compara- 30 tively thin. Referring again to Figs. 1 and 2 it will be seen that the chamber 30 is circular, but thin. The purpose'of this will be explained presair and hydro-carbon fuel, is drawn into the cylinder past the valve l9. Upon the return stroke of the piston this mixture is compressed and most of it is forced into the chamber 30 and ports 3|,

some of it, of course, remaining in the cylinder in the thin clearance space 40. See Fig. 2. This 50 all of the mixture is reduced to a broad thin body. Compressing the fuel mixture into these broad,

thin spaces reduces the speed of combustion and for that reasonit is possible to compress the fuel .to a high degree without causing it to detonate when it is ignited. Thus anaction is obtained which is more like that in the cylinder of a steam engine than has heretofore been possible in a hydrocarbon engine. Another advantage of compressing the mixture into these broad thin spaces isthat the thin or attenuated mass of fuel is thereby brought into contact with a very large area of hot wall, and thus all of it is heated to a high temperature. I lay emphasis on this point, as I believe that fuel-heating devices of the past have failed to produce expected results because the fuel has been in thick masses and in contact with relatively small areas of hot wall. Obviously, only the portions of these thick masses of fuel contiguous to the walls of the heating chambers could become heated in the short time that the fuel remained in the chambers. Heating the mixture uniformly to a high temperature, to-

gether with reducing the speed of combustion, produces very complete combustion, and as a result the deposit of carbon on the engine parts is practically nil. All of which produces an engine of high efiiciency, an engine that delivers great power with a srriall consumption of fuel.

Another advantage derived from compressing the fuel mixture into broad thin spaces enclosed by hot walls is that the engine is thus enabled to runon low grades of gasoline, and even heavy oils. My engine will run on oils of such low quality that it is necessary to use a better grade of fuel to start it. After the engine has been heated up it can be switched over to a low grade of fuel and it will deliver avery high power with a small consumption of fuel, leaving practically no deposit of carbon or other residue in the cylinder or on the valves.

One of the objects of my present construction is to keep the piston rings from becoming overheated. This is efiected by the construction described, which takes exhaust gases quickly away from areas of the cylinder. walls that are contacted by the rings. Placing the exhaust valve and outlet in a superhead supported on columns that are surrounded by air, takes the heat away from the piston rings so effectively that the rings are never distorted by heat, and they therefore enable the piston to produce very high compression. Distortion of the cylinder and contiguous parts, including the piston and rings, by expansion and contraction is also to be avoided if possible. This I accomplish by carrying the exhaust gases from the cylinder through the two ports 3 l-3 l, one of which is on each side of the center farther I, place the exhaust valve in the center of the chamber 30. In this way the cylinder and associated parts are made to expand and contract symmetrically.

It is to be noted that the fuel mixture is introduced into the cylinder cold. .This adds to the protection of the piston rings, as the newly introduced mixture washes the cylinder walls and the piston head and tends to cool them. Introducing the fuel cold has the advantage that a larger charge of fuel is introduced into the cylinder than where the charge is heated before it enters the cylinder. This is because heating the charge expands it and therefore reduces the amount of fuel a charge of a given volume contains. When the fuel is compressed in the chamber 30 and ports 3|3l, the air and fuel become very thoroughly mixed. This is due to the fact that when globules of atomized fuel come in contact with the hot walls 6f the spaces, the globules are broken extent this sort of\thing occurs in the cylinder 5 before and during theprocess of compressing the fuel. But because of the smallness of the wall area compared to the volume of fuel the effect is negligible. But when the' fuel is'reduced to a small volume and confined in attenuated spaces 10 i with their relatively large wall areas, the result is remarkably eflicient fuel combustion.

The modified construction illustrated in Fig. 5 differs from the structure already described only in that the spark plug housing 4| communicates 16 with the chamber 30 instead of communicating directly with the cylinder. The modification i1- lustrated in Fig. 6 differs from that of Figs. 1 to 4 in that the superhead is supported by a plurality of cylindrical tubes 42, instead of the arcuate 20 columns l5-l5.

While I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention together with two modifications, it is not to be understood that the invention is limited in its scope to the particular structures 2 shown, for the scope of the invention is only limited by the appended claims, which are as follows:

I claim:-

1. In an internal combustion engine, a cylin- 30 der having a fuel inlet in the center of its head, having an exhaust valve in alignment with the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, and having ports leading from each side of said fuel inlet to said exhaust valve. 35

2.- In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a fuel inlet in the center of its head, a port in the cylinder head at each side of said inlet, leading to a common chamber, and an exhaust valve in said chamber, said ports, which 40 serve alternately as exhaust ports and part of the combustion chamber, being broad and thin, whereby to reduce the explosive charge contained in them to broad, thin bodies of gas.

3. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder 45 having a fuel inlet in the center of its head, a superhead supported on said head by two freestanding columns, the superhead containing a broad, thin chamber, and the columns containing broad thin ports connecting the chamber with 5 the cylinder, and an exhaust port in said chamber.

4. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a fuel inlet in the center of its head, a superhead supported on said head by two free- 55 standing columns, the superhead containing a broad, thin chamber, and the columns containing broad thin ports connecting the chamber with the cylinder, and an exhaust port in said chamber, said columns and the ports within them be- 6 ing arcual to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder.

5. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a fuel inlet in the center of its head,

a superhead supported on said head by a circle 6 of free-standing tubes, the superhead containing a thin circular chamber with which said tubes connect, and an exhaust port in said chamber.

6. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a head with a boss extending dia- 70 metrically across its exterior, said boss being divided into two compartments, one of which houses a spark plug, the other serving as a fuel inlet and having a port to admit fuel to the cylining an exhaust port, said superhead being supported by free-standing columns extending from the cylinder head, ports in said columns connecting said chamber to the cylinder.

'7. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a head with a boss extending diametrically across its exterior, said boss being divided into two compartments, one of which houses a spark plug, the other serving as a fuel inlet and having a port to admit fuel to the cylinder, and a superhead containing a chamber having an exhaust port, said superhead being supported by free-standing columns, one on each side of said boss, said columns being arcuate in cross section to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder and containing arcuate ports which connect the cylinder to said chamber, said ports and chamber being broad and'thin.

8. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a head with a boss extending diametrically across its exterior, said bossbeing divided into two compartments, one of which houses a spark plug, the other serving as a fuel inlet and communicating with the cylinder by way of a valve in the center of the cylinder head, and a superhead containing a chamber with an outlet valve for exhaust gases, said superhead being supported on the cylinder head by hollow columns, the hollows of said columns connecting said chamber to the interior of the cylinder.

9. In "an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a head, similar exhaust ports in said head arranged symmetrically around'the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, said ports carrying exhaust gases to a chamber which is also symmetrical with reference to said axis, said chamber having an outlet for exhaust gases, concentric to said axis.

10. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having a head, a superhead isolated from '5 said head and containing a chamber, a plurality of tubular columns whereby said superhead is supported on said head and the cylinder is connected to said chamber, said columns being arranged in a circle concentric to the longitudinal 10 axis of the cylinder, and an exhaust outlet from said chamber.

11. In an internal combustion engine, a cylinder having. a head, a superhead containing a chamber, said chamber being broad and rela- 15 tively thin, 'a plurality of ports connecting said chamber to the cylinder, the ports and chamber serving alternately as combustion chambers and exhaust passages, an exhaust outlet in said chamber, and a spark plug housed in a compartment 20 that communicates with said chamber.

12. In an internal combustion engine, a piston, a cylinder having a head. between which and the piston the clearance space: is thin at the beginning of the power stroke, and auxiliary compres- 25 sion chambers connected with said clearance space, in which a. substantial part of the compressed fuel charge is. confined, said chambers being permanently shaped so that they reduce the fuel to attenuated masses having contact 30 with relatively large areas of hot confining wall, said auxiliary compression chambers being connected to a.common exhaust port at a point remote from the cylinder.

OTIO J. GINGERICH. 35 

